Lunarpunk

I live in the US where aging is shameful, grieving is rude, and death is commodified. I don't think this perspective should be carried over. So, how could solarpunks do things differently?

My current vision involves a lunarpunk monastery. Gone are sterile funeral homes, silent graveyards, dogma and taboo. Instead, an eclectic community of death doulas serving others through the finality. The bodies of the dead become part of an ever expanding ancestral forest. A living cemetery for the living.

Housed would be thanatologists of every flavor: bookworms, artists, health practitioners, naturalists, mystics, and more. Maintaining libraries, gardens, and temples for public use. Facilitating psychedelic rituals for those with terminal illness and the bereaved. Providing funeral rites and hospice care. Hosting moonlit festivals, discussions, and support groups.

Wearing mothlike robes. Playing chimes at sundown corresponding to the phase of the moon. But I digress...

How do you imagine death and dying in a solarpunk society? Is the great unknown in the realm of lunarpunk?

The one-of-a-kind glow-in-the-dark playground Joya at Oran Good Park in Texas is now officially open. City officials at Farmers Branch, a town just 20 minutes outside Dallas, welcomed the public to the 18,000-square-foot park on Saturday, January 20.

Joya at Oran Good Park dubbed itself as the country's first all-accessible, glow-in-the-dark playground, according to a release from the city. While open during the day, the park comes alive during the evening with its glowing elements. The playground features a 27-foot futuristic sphere where children can climb inside, a zip line, a spin zone, glow seating, swings, and an obstacle course - all lit with colorful LED lighting.

On this episode, Ariel sits down with Justine Norton-Kertson, editor of the forthcoming BIOLUMINESCENT: A LUNARPUNK ANTHOLOGY and co-EIC of Solarpunk Magazine. They discuss what lunarpunk is in contrast to solarpunk, what inspired Justine to put together an anthology of lunarpunk fiction, and a sneak peek at some of the participating authors and the content that fans can expect to encounter!

(Note: This episode was originally posted on 10/31/22. Bioluminescent: A Lunarpunk Anthology is currently a longlist nominee for the British Science Fiction Association's award for Best Collection! Justine Norton-Kertson shares their perspective on lunarpunk as a burgeoning genre / movement , spirituality , and bioluminescent technology.

You can order Bioluminescent on e-book or paperback

Today Ariel sits down with Navarre Bartz to talk about solarpunk spirituality. Solarpunk’s emphasis on respecting and valuing human and non-human life includes the totality of a being’s existence, and that includes the “squishy bits” of the experience that we can’t quite quantify. Navarre recently hosted a series of guest posts on his blog, Solarpunk Station, all about the spiritual angle of solarpunk, and what a solarpunk style of spirituality might look like.

(mentions the recent book "Bioluminescence: A Lunarpunk Anthology around the 13 minute mark)

What happens in the ecocommunity when the sun goes down?

A gothic take on solarpunk.

An artistic, aesthetic, literature, and political movement founded on ecology, decentralization, non-hierarchy, mutual aid, individual liberty, liberatory technology, diversity, feminism, and the merging of art, science, and politics.

a sideblog by The Carbon Coast | In Solvoid, the sun stays below the horizon—the moon's light charges plants which glow beneath a veil of mysterious characters from witches, street gangs, gamblers and beyond.|

This tumblr blog seems to no longer be active but hosts links to lunarpunk imagery, writing and technology

This is part of a new feature where Solarpunk Presents brings you a bonus chat every month on different topic decided by our Patrons.

The very first topic of 2024 is LUNARPUNK - because, what even is it, exactly? How does it relate to solarpunk? Can it be described as a movement, or an aesthetic stance, or more of a vibe? What's going on with this nascent genre? Tune in to the discussion now and join the conversation!

To Know the Dark

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.

—Wendell Berry, The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry (1998)

via Paul Bogard, The End of Night (2013)

As we are approaching the winter time with the solstice, I find myself wondering what to you is Lunarpunk in the winter time? What is something you add to the aesthetic in your eyes?

source

A solar storm forecast for Thursday is expected to give skygazers in 17 American states a chance to glimpse the Northern Lights, the colorful sky show that happens when solar wind hits the atmosphere.

"Yes, The Matrix Resurrections creates what is—at least in my estimation—a decidedly lunarpunk world and brings the budding aesthetic and subgenre to the big screen, if not for the first time, then at least in the most high profile example to date."

I have recently read Le Guin's The Dispossessed, which is a wonderful look into a Solarpunk world. However, an important critique that the book emphasizes is that this new Solarpunk society (or, well, an Anarchist society really) has produced a 'tyranny of bureaucracy' and a number of social pressures that stifle individual ambition and that punish those that are different from the norm.

Would you agree that Le Guin's critique can be useful for the solarpunk movement?

I have attached an analysis of the novel as well.

In the novel, the two most prominent slices of reality that require complementary interpretations are Shevek’s General Temporal Theory and his vision of anarchism on Anarres. Just as he sees Sequency and Simultaneity as complementary, so he sees individual freedom and social responsibility as the complementary manifestations of anarchy. Moreover, Shevek is able to comprehend anarchy in a complementary way only because his view is based on the theory of time that he has developed.

Recent entry in the "Solarpunk Spirituality" series by Solarpunk writer Phoebe Wagner. Links to the rest of the series including "The Nonbinary Nature of Solarpunk/Lunarpunk" can be found here as well.

You can follow their work on the Fediverse at @[email protected]

The fight against light pollution seems relevant to this community. The International Dark Sky Association has a lot of good information for people who are just starting to learn about this issue. Light pollution has many impacts on wildlife and the environment, but it also keeps us from being able to see the stars. I think everyone should get the chance to experience a night sky that isn't obscured by light pollution.